During a March 10 hearing of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden testified about the $19 billion dollar Fiscal Year 2017 budget proposed for the agency by President Obama.

Last week a group of space-related organizations rented the National Press Club so they could announce a white paper on space policy. Why bother? Space is not going to be an issue in the 2016 campaign.

After spending nearly a year aboard the International Space Station -- conducting a host of biomedical and psychological research on the impacts of long-duration spaceflight on the human body, NASA's Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos wrapped up their historic mission on March 1 - with a safe parachute landing in Kazakhstan.

The International Space Station's historic one-year expedition has been a mission of numbers - one that could add up to huge benefits for future space exploration - including the Journey to Mars, as well as for life on Earth.

Completing the assembly of the primary mirror, which took place at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is a significant milestone and the culmination of over a decade of design, manufacturing, and testing the agency's James Webb Space Telescope.

During his Feb. 9 State of NASA speech at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va, Administrator Charles Bolden characterized President Obama's $19 billion Fiscal Year 2017 budget proposal for NASA as a vote of confidence and an indication of the agency's strength.

On Tuesday, Feb. 9, as part of the rollout of President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2017 budget proposal for NASA, Administrator Charles Bolden delivered a "State of NASA" speech at the agency's Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Va.

In 2015, NASA explored the expanse of our solar system and beyond, and the complex processes of our home planet, while also advancing the technologies for our journey to Mars, and new aviation systems as the agency reached new milestones aboard the International Space Station.

This concept animation shows just one of many potential concepts for how the first human landing site on Mars might evolve throughout the course of multiple human expeditions to the Red Planet over a decade or more

In 2015, NASA explored the expanse of our solar system and beyond, and the complex processes of our home planet, while also advancing the technologies for our journey to Mars, and new aviation systems as the agency reached new milestones aboard the International Space Station. Here's a look at some of the top NASA stories of the year.